Haryana Election 2019: 2014 Newcomer Manohar Lal Khattar Is BJP's Safe Bet In Haryana In 2019

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has been an RSS man all his life. He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP's ideological mentor, in 1977 and moved to the BJP after 17 years.

In the 2014 elections, Manohar Lal Khattar became one of the leading contenders for the post of Chief Minister after the BJP decided to go with a non-Jat candidate. The former RSS pracharak also had the Sangh's weight behind him.

From 2000 to 2014, Mr Khattar was the organizational general secretary of the BJP in Haryana. In the 2014 national election, he led the party's campaign committee. He was soon elevated to the BJP's National Executive. Later that year, when the party came to power for the first time in Haryana, Mr Khattar - he also won his first ever election -- became Chief Minister. He won by defeating Congress candidate Surendra Singh Narwal by a margin of 63,736 votes.

He is seen to be close to the party's top leadership. According to reports, he worked closely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 1996 Jammu and Kashmir election and also in earthquake-hit Bhuj in Gujarat.

Mr Khattar, 65, has been in the headlines over several controversial comments, many of them sexist and misogynistic. Not many months ago, he provoked anger for his distasteful comments on Kashmiri women after the government ended special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

"Now some people say Kashmir is open; brides can be brought from there. But jokes apart, if the (sex) ratio is improved, then there will be a right balance in society," Mr Khattar had said at a rally.

Just days ago, Mr Khattar's comments on Congress President Sonia Gandhi were also widely criticised.

"...they made Sonia Gandhi the Congress chief. It was like khoda pahaad, nikli chuhiya, woh bhi mari hui... (like digging up a mountain to find a mouse, that too a dead one)," he had said. The Congress has demanded an apology from Mr Khattar for the comments.

Mr Khattar, a bachelor who in his 2014 affidavit had claimed to be an "agriculturist", declared his profession as "MLA" in his nomination papers this year. He does not have any criminal case against him and was never convicted in any case, states the affidavit.